Charles helm



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

1 M 6 \s w m M w P V a v U M C. HELM.

(No Model.)

ELEGTRIG ALARMLOGK FOB. TILLS.

WITNESSES (No Model.) 2 Sheets- -Sheet 2.

v 0.HELM. ELEGTRIG ALARM LOOK FOR TILLS.

No. 544,224. Patented Aug. 6, 1895.

NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES H ELM, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA.-

ELECTRIC ALARM-LOCK FOR TILLS.

EPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 544,224, dated August 6, 1 895.

I Application filed April 23, 1895- erial No. 546,941. (Nomodel-l To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES HELM, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Indianapolis, in the county of Marion and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric Alarm- Locks for Tills; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,c1ear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

The object ofmy invention is to provide a till-lock and electric alarm therefor in which one pole of an electric battery is connected to the latch of the lock, the other pole to a post of an electric bell, and the other post of the bell connected to a contact-plate, so that when the latch is moved in engagement with the contact-plate an alarm will be sounded.

A further object of myinvention is to provide the till with an electric bell, battery, and contact-plate in addition to the lock, the latter being preferably constructed to provide a pivoted latch-bar which engages a rigid stop and rests upon a series of tumblers or wards the line 2 2 of Fig. 1.

connected to operating-keys, so that when the proper keys are manipulated the latch will disengage the stop, and in which, should the drawer be pulled upon without first manipulatin g the proper keys, the latch will be moved and the latch-plate carried thereby held in engagement with the contact-plate to sound an alarm, which continues until the drawer is opened upon the proper combination and the circuit broken.

With the above ends in view my invention consists in the construction and combination of the parts, as will be hereinafter fully set forth, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional View of a till or cash-drawer, showing my improved till-lock and alarm applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a sectional view on Fig. 3 is aperspective View of the lock, and Figs. 4 and 5 are detail views.

A designates the till or cash-drawer, which is provided with the usual cash receptacles or compartments and is hung or supported in guide-rails attached to a counter or fixed top A, the under side of the counter or support having rigidly attached thereto a stop a, with which the latch of the combination-lock hereinafter described engages.

The lock mechanism is located within the till or drawer, preferably at the rear end thereof and in the center, so that the battery 13 may be placed on one side thereof and the electric bell B on the other. The battery and bell are of the ordinary type,the bell being actuated upon a closed circuit.

The frame which supports the mechanism of the lock consists of side pieces G and O, which are attached to the end and bottom pieces of the till and are connected to each other by cross-pieces O and C and by rods 0 and c, the latter forming stops, as hereinafter mentioned. The side pieces of the frame are provided with forwardly-projecting members c and c and to the outer ends of the members 0 is pivoted a frame D, to the upper end of which ispivoted the latch D, which engages the stop a on the under side of the counter to lock the drawer in a closed position, the latch being pivoted between lugs 61 d, formed on the upper end of the frame D.

The latch is operated by a series of tumblers or wards E E, the upper ends of a pre-' determined number of which support the latch normally in an elevated position for engagement with the stop, said latch being provided with a transverse plate d, against which the tumblers or wards bear. The upper ends of the tumblers or wards are supported or guided in slots in the cross-piece C of the frame, while the lower ends engage with one end of the cross-bar or horizontal member f of bell-crank levers F, so that when the bell-crank levers are rocked, as hereinafter described, the tumblers or wards will be raised or lowered, according to which end of the memberf they are connected.- The tu-msaid wards being bifurcatedfor engagement with headed pins f, projecting from the members f. The depending member f of the bell ICO crank levers are connected to a corresponding number of operating-keys G by means of connecting-rodsg, the rods extending through a frame G at the forward end of the drawer, and are provided with helical springs g, placed thereon and interposed between the frame G and collars g rigidly secured upon the rods, the tendency of the springs being to force the depending members of the bellcrank levers rearwardly, so as to elevate the tumblers or wards connected to the rear end of the cross-bar or memberf and lower those connected to the forward end, the movement of the bell-crank levers being limited in both directions by the rods 0 and 0, extending between the side pieces (3 and O of the frame of the lock. By this arrangement it will be noted that when the lock is in the position shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings to open the drawer, it is only necessary to draw upon the operating-keys which are connected to the bell-crank levers having the tumblers or wards connected to the rear end of the members or cross-bars f thereof, which will lower said tumblers and permit the latch D to fall out of engagement with the notch or. Should the wrong combination of keys be drawn upon, the tumblers or wards connected to the forward ends of the membersfof the bell-crank levers would be elevated and hold the latch in engagement with the stop. By means of the particular construction of the lock mechanism a great number of combinations can be made from a small number of keys, and the combination can be readily changed by simply reversing one or more of the tumblers or wards.

The frame which carries the latch D is pivoted to the lock-frame, as hereinbefore described, so that it may have a backward and forward movement, the backward movement being limited by engagement with the ends of the forwardly-projecting members 0 of the lock-frame, and this backward and forward movement is for the purpose of opening and closing the circuit of an electric bell, as hereinafter more fully described.

H designates a plate or latch, which is pivoted on one side of the pivoted frame D, carrying the latch D'of the till-lock, and is electrically connected to the battery B. The rear end of the plate or latch II is formed into an arrow-head h, the vertical edges of which are adapted to engage with lugs c and 0 projecting from the side piece 0 of the lockframe, the forward end of said latch being extendedlaterally to provide a thumb-rest for operating the same manually.

To the rear end of the cash drawer or till is attached a contact-plate I, which is electrically connected to one post of the bellB, the other post of the bell being connected directly to the battery.

By connecting the latch-plate H and contact-plate I to the battery and bell, as hereinbefore described, when the pivoted frame D is moved rearward it will carry with it the latch-plate, and when the arrowhead thereof moves beyond the lug c it will drop in engagement with the contact-plate I and complete the circuit and ring the bell, the latchplate being held in engagement with the contact-plate by the arrow-head h thereof, engaging the lug 0 In order to insure the engagement of the latch-plate with the contactplate a helical spring is is connected to the former rear of its pivot, said spring being connected at its other end to a curved arm K, pivoted on one of the bolts which connects the frame D to the lock-frame, the arm K being provided with a lug 7a, which engages one member of the pivoted frame D, so that the spring will also act to normally hold the upper part of said frame to the limit of its forward movement, said limit being provided by the head of the latch-plate l'I engaging the lug c In operation the parts are arranged, as shown in Fig. 1, with the lateh-plate II out of engagement with the contact-plate and the latch-carrying frame D at the limit of its forward movement, the latch D being in engagement with the stop a and held in such engagement by a certain number of the tumblers or wards E. In this position any one familiar with the combination can open the drawer by drawing upon the proper keys, thereby lowering the tumblers or wards which are in engagement with the latch, which permits said latch to fall out of engagement with the stop. On the other band, should any one unfamiliar with the combination attempt to open the drawer a forward pull upon the same would move the latch and its carrying-frame rearward with respect to the drawer, and as the latch-plate II is carried by the frame D the arrow-head thereof would be moved in engagement with the contact-plate I and complete the circuit, thus sounding an alarm which would continue until the drawer is opened upon the proper combination and the latch-plate manipulated to break the circuit.

The invention hereinbefore described provides a very efficient alarm-lock for tills, in which an attempt to open the drawer by one unfamiliar with the combination would cause a continuous alarm, which can only be stopped by properly opening the drawer.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In combination with a till lock constructed substantially as shown, of a rocking member carrying a pivoted latch operated by a series of tumblers or wards, a latch-plate pivoted to the rocking member, and a contactplate with which the latch-plate engages, together with an electric bell and battery, substantially as described.

2. In combination with a till-lock having a rocking member, carrying a pivoted latch, ot' a latch-plate attached to said member and adapted to lock the same at the limit of its rearward movement, said latch-plate being electrically connected to a battery, and a contact-plate carried by the till so that the latch plate will engage therewith when the rocking member which carries the same is moved rearward, together with an electric alarm and connections substantially as shown, whereby an electric circuit is completed when the latch plate engages with the contact-plate, for the purpose set forth.

3.v A till-lock comprising a suitably supported frame having a guide bar and shaft, bell-crank levers connected to keys for actuating the same, and provided with laterallyprojecting pins wards or tumblers having bi-- furcated lower ends which engage the projecting pins of the bell-crank levers, said wards or tumblers passing through the guidebar of the frame, a member pivoted to the frame and having in pivotal engagement th erewith. a latch with a transverse plate with which the upper ends of the wards or tumblers engage, substantially as shown, and for the purpose set forth.

4. In a till-lock, the combination, of a frame constructed substantiallyas show-n,bell-crank levers supported by the frame, said bell-crank levers having a depending member and a cross-bar or member, as f, headed pins f projecting from the memberf, and wards or tumblers having bifurcated lower ends for engagement'with the bell-crank levers, substantially as shown and for the purpose set forth.

5. In a till-lock, the combination of a frame, bell-crank levers connected to operating keys and to wards or tumblers, a pivoted member havinga crossbar to which is pivoted a latch with a transverse plate, the plate being adapted to rest upon the upper ends of the wards or tumblers, a spring for holding the pivoted frame normally to the limit of its forward movement, and a latch for limiting the movement of the pivoted frame, the latch engaging lugs or stops projecting from the frame of the thumb rest for operating said latch-plate, substantially as shown and for the purpose set forth.

7.- In a till-l'ock,'tl1e combination, of a frame constructed substantially as shown and provided with an oscillating member which carries a latch, a latch-plate pivoted to the oscillating member, said latch-plate being adapted to engage with lugs or stocks on the lockframe, an arm K pivoted on the frame, a spring connecting the arm withthe latch-plate, and a lug projecting from the arm and engaging one of the members of the oscillating frame, substantially as shown and for the purpose set forth.

8. In a till-lock, the combination, of an oscillating frame, a latch-plate pivoted thereto and having a head with projecting portions, and studs or projections on the frame of the lock with which the latch-plate engages, substantially as shown, whereby when the oscillating member is moved rearward the rear end of the latch will fall, for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

M. W. HOPKINS, CLARA HELM. 

